Archives

Votes versus Bluster. The UK Election and shale

Details

Written by Nick Grealy

Published: 01 April 2015

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth may have done the UK shale industry a great favour by promoting their Frack Free Promise initiative.

The Frack Free Promise is a pledge that prospective parliamentary candidates (people who are campaigning to be our next MPs) can take in the run up to the general election. The statement we're asking election candidates to sign is: "If my constituency is at risk of fracking, I will oppose it. If my constituency is not at risk, I will oppose fracking nationwide.”

Recent comments

Lyn Butterworth

TooWindy

It is funny. The antis movements (including the Greens) has always said to voters that they should never trust a politician's promises or pledges when it comes from other parties. And here they are, telling the public to trust this pledge from a bunch of political party candidates to trust their p...

The end of expensive energy

Details

Written by Nick Grealy

Published: 31 March 2015

Perhaps it was because there weren’t many other people to speak to at the MEDACT report on fracking launch in London, but various antis and pro’s, or me at at least, had some civilised and hopefully eventually productive, conversations.

Only 24 showed up in the audience, four of them US antis so we can discount them to some extent in the UK/EU debate. There were four pro shale siders, including Michael Roberts the Reverend Geologist from Lancashire. Keeping discreetly quiet were at least four other shale PR types familiar from the conference circuit. It rather proves my recent analysis that in the world of shale opposition, it’s not August 2013 anymore.That was further demonstrated by the taciturn reception the report received in the press. MEDACT did manage to get the somewhat derivative and outdated study reported by a freelancer in the Guardian, which will no doubt ripple out among the faithful, but everyone else, maybe even antis themselves judging by recent non-events, seems to be getting bored. The coming election will be exciting, but as I’ll point out another time, is unlikely to change anything about UK shale.

Recent comments

Thanks for your kind words.
I must correct you on one point -- "Paul rarely, if ever drives..."
In fact I never drive because I chose many years ago not to bother getting a driving licence (it was clear in the 1980s which way the eco-wind was blowing!). I can drive; it was difficult not to learn g...

4C: climate, coal, China and change

Details

Written by Nick Grealy

Published: 27 March 2015

These are truly wondrous times for the climate and the world gas industry. We’re seeing fundamental shifts in the entire energy field as coal is dying before our eyes. That is if we choose to look, something natural gas opponents in Europe are still much in denial about.

Dieter Helm says we don’t have a 2C temperature change problem, we have a 5C issue. Climate Change via Carbon from Coal in China. We are replacing coal in China with the same prescription that works in the United States: efficiency, renewables and low cost natural gas. Some will choose to ignore the role of gas at the same time they celebrate the “victory” of renewables. Others will pretend we have to choose from a menu, instead of the prescription. It’s much like a course of penicillin: failure to take the whole medicine may make you feel good immediately but won’t prevent a recurrence of future problems. Like anything else in nature, cross pollination of different energy sources will combine to provide innovative solutions. Efficiency and renewables alone won’t cure the outdated sickness we bring upon ourselves by continuing coal use.

The new Climate Deniers are Natural Gas Deniers.

Details

Written by Nick Grealy

Published: 23 March 2015

This November in Paris, the WPCC 2015 World Climate Conference will be held. Given the amount of countries involved, there have already been various meetings ahead of it, and it's clear that the two greatest emitter of carbon are out to solve the issue via a variety of ways, but the original road starts with abundant natural gas knocking coal out of the picture.

If one listens to the Green Parties and Guardians of the world, this is the last chance to save the planet, a narrative that dates from all the other failed conferences over the years. It’s worth a quick look back to the previous summit in Copenhagen as reported in No Hot Air in 2009. Since then there have been smaller conferences about conferences which didn’t achieve anything either, apart from Greenpeace vandalising the Nazca Lines last year. To the natural gas industry, the solution in 2009 had already fallen out of the sky as Tim Wirth noted, but this was a case of too soon. Aubrey McClendon, then of Chesapeake noted that European gas regulators had no idea of what he was talking about.

Recent comments

Striebs

Quote "To the natural gas industry, the solution in 2009 had already fallen out of the sky as Tim Wirth noted, but this was a case of too soon. Aubrey McClendon, then of Chesapeake noted that European gas regulators had no idea of what he was talking about."
There doesn't appear to have been much p...